Board endorses garbage-to-ethanol machine

January 19, 2007
BY DANIELLE BRAFF Post-Tribune

The Lake County Solid Waste Management District Board unanimously approved moving forward with a $76 million proposal to turn Lake County's garbage into ethanol.

James Titmas, chairman of the Ohio-based GeneSyst International Inc., introduced the notion of a multimillion-dollar piece of equipment that could turn all of the county's garbage into usable ethanol in 36 hours.

The machine would be privately funded, and Titmas' company would make a profit by using the ethanol it produced. Titmas said the only fee taxpayers would pay would be a competitive charge for waste disposal. He said the fee would be the same or lower than residents currently pay.

"It's such a win-win situation," said Lake County Commissioner Gerry Scheub.

If successful, Lake County would be the first place to ever have all its garbage turned into reusable ethanol, a fact that made some officials question whether the ability to make it work would be possible. Titmas said he made two defunct plants on a smaller scale, but he said he learned from previous mistakes and now believes that the machinery would work on a larger scale.

He chose this region to create his dream machine because Lake County has enough residents to support the need for the product,

has enough employees to be able to run the machinery and has a solid industrial base necessary for the project to work, Titmas said.

The plant would be on 40 acres, but the commission hasn't explored locations yet. Titmas said surrounding residents could feel assured that they won't experience any hazardous gases or byproducts from the equipment because it would be a sealed workspace.

"We really want to do everything we can to make a product that would be in demand and would do our country some good," Titmas said during his presentation at the Lake County Government Center on Thursday night.

Ninety percent of waste tends to be reusable materials such as paper and food products. The machine would separate the remaining 10 percent using water. Then it would process the bulk of the garbage using a gravity pressure vessel.

The products would be turned into sugar, which would be distilled, making ethanol, Titmas said. The ethanol would be safe for use because any bacteria in the garbage wouldn't survive the processing.

The commission agreed to move forward and begin examining proposals and basic details regarding the plant.

Contact Danielle Braff at 648-3079 or dbraff@post-trib.com